Johnboy Lee

John Paul Lee is better known as John Boy, as he happens to be Hitz.fm’s former turntable child prodigy. At the age of thirteen, he was in charge of remixing the music for his neighborhood street gang’s break dancing sessions.“My friends used to tease me for having two left feet, and was kindly asked to stick behind the decks instead.”John Boy’s introduction to dance music came at the time when hip-hop and early fun-house sounds were the staple dance floor fillers, with the likes of Jellybean Benitez and Madonna at the helm. He also credits Arthur Baker and Frankie Knuckles as two of his other influences.“I used to have a huge poster of Jellybean Benitez and would dream of being in his shoes,” confesses John Boy on his love for producing and DJing.His first tune produced in 1991, was called, “Raise your hands,” under the pseudonym of Nuke, released in Europe as a White Label. 17 years on, 45 remixes, 5 hit singles and 9 Mix CDs later, he has just released a non-stop compilation record titled “Track Record” (Acti8 records). It has over 20,000 copies alone in The Phillippines during its first week of release.As one of the pioneer radio announcers on Hitz.fm, Johnboy was rated one of the top announcers in Malaysia during his Astro career. As Music Director, he introduced the Hitz top 30 countdown to listeners, and interviewed numerous artists including Linkin Park, Destiny’s Child, The Spice Girls and Alanis Morisette.The highlight of his career was when he placed his pen on the dotted line for Warner Music Asia, as an in house producer with unlimited flexibility in 2000. With his versatility as a producer, he has worked with the likes of Hong Kong’s elite- Sammi Cheng, Aaron Kwok; Taiwan’s Diva Amei ;China’s Pushu; Denmark’s M2M; Russia’s Cheeky Girls; Germany’s Cecil Louro Jones; UAE’s Pierre Ravan; Australia’s Bardot; Malaysia’s KRU, Amy Mastura, Rabanni, Trafford, D’ Cuzzy, Malaysian rap-core band Mumster, and most recently China’s hottest all-girl group, Mei Mei, who all confidently allowed Johnboy to tweak their tunes to their fullest potential. Today he is juggling his production work and globe trekking as a DJ/remixer/producer.“It is totally wicked, knowing I can produce so many different styles while being recognized by a big label!” he proclaims. “I just love the way technology has evolved because I can deejay at Café Flam, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, complete a remix for Sammi Cheng without being present in Hong Kong on Sunday, then finish off another Remix for Cheeky Girls while on flight to Manila on Monday, while rushing off to my next gig…maybe in Koh Samui, the next weekend. In the midst, I can also pre-record my weekly dance show for Asia’s hottest radio stations Hitz.FM (Malaysia) & Bigfish Radio On Magic 89.9 (The Phillippines),” while chilling out at Chaweng Beach in Samui, says the in-demand DJ/producer. Johnboy also provides the luscious sounds for the trendiest restaurants and health clubs in Asia, such as Café Flam KL, Flam Restaurant, Mezzonote KL, Fitness First in the Klang Valley, and Embassy, Manila, just to name a few.If he’s not tweaking his knobs at his complete Logic/Pro Tools home studio or laptop, Johnboy can be experienced at his home ground in Manila, as the resident DJ for famed tent parties by Big Fish, where he has donned the decks along the likes of Paul Van Dyke, Axwell, Tall Paul, Steve Taylor, Dennis Christopher, Axwell, John”00” Flemming, Thrillseekerz, and regularly for Ministry of Sound’s Asian Tour. Listen to Johnboy’s weekly Radio show on www.bigfishmanila.com